1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of refuse handling apparatus.
More particularly, this invention relates to refuse collection vehicles of a type having a hopper for receiving refuse and a storage body for receiving and storing refuse from the hopper.
In a further and more specific aspect, the present invention concerns novel features for the improved control and operation of refuse collection vehicles.
2. Prior Art
The collection and removal of refuse, the solid wastes of a community, is a major municipal problem. For example, residential refuse is generated at an average rate of approximately two pounds per day per capita. As accumulated, loose and uncompacted, the refuse has a density generally in the range of 150-300 pounds per cubic yard. For the health and welfare of the community, regular disposal is essential.
Traditionally, residential refuse including garbage, trash and other waste materials was amassed and stored in containers having a ten to thirty gallon capacity. On a regular basis, normally once or twice weekly, the containers were placed by the householder at a designated location for handling by a scheduled collection agency. Frequently designated locations were curbside and alley line. Not uncommonly, the refuse of a single residence, depending upon the number of occupants and the frequency of service, would occupy two or more containers each weighing as much as seventy-five to one hundred pounds.
This conventional refuse collection method subsisted for many years and involved a mechanized unit supplemented with manual labor. The mechanized unit, or collection vehicle, included a refuse handling body mounted upon a truck chassis. Generally, the vehicle was attended by a crew of three or more. One of the crew attended to operation of the vehicle while the others brought the householder's refuse to the vehicle.
Commonly, the vehicle included a hopper of conveniently low loading height into which the collectors emptied the containers. Means were provided for transferring the refuse from the hopper to the body. The body, which was typically equipped with a compactor, also included unloading means for ejecting refuse at the disposal site.
Considerable effort has been directed by many in the industry of refuse collection toward the development of equipment for the enhancement of the traditional refuse collection method. As result, current methodology directs that refuse is placed in relatively large containers of uniform dimensions which are handled by automated equipment. The containers may, for example, be of sufficient size to service several households. The collection vehicle is equipped with a self-loading device which lifts and dumps the container. Increased load carrying capacity of the vehicle is achieved through the use of compactor-type bodies.
Innovators and researchers in the art have not, however, reached any semblance of accord on the specifics of mechanizing the collection of refuse. Accordingly, the art has rapidly swelled and is continuing to swell with numerous proposals which purportedly offer optimum solutions.
For instance, while there is general agreement upon the desirability of the compactor-type body, the art vacillates among various reciprocating platen and auger-type packer mechanisms. Loading is alternately accomplished by front, side or rear mounted mechanisms which may incorporate either fixed or extendible length arms. Numerous other disagreements and divergences permeate the art.
The many prior art proposals, however, have not provided entirely satisfactory solutions to the automated collection of refuse. Because prior art reciprocating packers are normally operational in only one direction normally defined as the forward stroke, the rearward or return stroke constitutes wasted motion and wasted time. Furthermore, dumping of the container must be coordinated to prevent the accumulation of the material at the rearward or backside of the platen. While the auger provides continuous operation, it is at the expense of increased manufacturing costs and decreased reliability. Subjected to unequal forces and having bearings at only one end, the device can be wedged to a stop. It is seen, therefore, that each is subject to periodic malfunction requiring attendance by the operator and temporarily halting the collection of refuse.
With the increased size of the containers, the storage bodies of most refuse collection vehicles have also grown to accommodate larger loads. However, practitioners in the field have been faced with the technological necessity of making the large storage bodies strong enough to accommodate not only the weight of the refuse but also the force exerted against the storage body as the refuse is compacted into the storage body from the hopper. To this end, the walls of present storage containers are quite bulky and normally either corrugated or otherwise include vertical and/or horizontal bracing elements welded to the walls to rigidify and strengthen the walls. Not only are corrugated walls and walls having vertical and/or horizontal braces exceedingly expensive to construct and heavy, they also diminish the general exterior appearance of the storage body and the aerodynamic quality of the refuse collection vehicle which correspondingly decreases the gas mileage of the refuse collection vehicle during normal operation increasing the cost of operating the vehicle.
To further enhance the automated collection of refuse, many storage containers incorporate a gate assembly mounted with a rearward opening thereof to act as a closure for the rearward opening. These gate assembly apparatus are normally bulky and incorporate complex mechanical features for locking and unlocking the gate assembly with the rearward opening. However, the accessible rearward opening allows refuse collected within the storage container to be ejected from the rearward opening. To this end, apparatus currently exist for either tilting the storage body upwardly for allowing gravity to move the refuse from the storage body and outwardly through the rearward end for deposit, or ejecting the refuse outwardly through the rearward end. To eject the refuse outwardly through the rearward end of the storage body, innovators have adapted packing mechanisms which operate for not only transferring and packing refuse into the storage body from the hopper, but also for ejecting the refuse outwardly through the rearward end for deposit at suitable waste disposal sites. Although exemplary for intended use, these packing mechanisms are extremely bulky, mechanically inefficient and costly.
It would be highly advantageous, therefore, to remedy the foregoing and other deficiencies inherent in the prior art.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide improvements in refuse collection equipment.
Another object of the present invention is the provision of an improved storage body which is light, strong and capable of transporting large loads of refuse.
And another object of the present invention is to provide an improved storage body that is easy to construct.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide an improved storage body that is inexpensive to construct.
Yet another object of the instant invention is to provide an improved continuously operable packer assembly.
Yet still another object of the instant invention is to provide an improved packer assembly operative for facilitating the incremental movement of a platen into and through a hopper and a storage body for accomplishing not only the compaction of refuse into the storage body but also the ejection of the refuse through a downstream opening of the storage body for deposit.
And a further object of the invention is to provide an improved self-locking gate assembly.
Still a further object of the immediate invention is to provide an improved self-locking gate assembly that is easy to construct.
Yet a further object of the invention is to provide an improved self-locking gate mechanism that is efficient and easy to operate.
And still a further object of the invention is the provision of a refuse collection vehicle of the foregoing type which is safer, easier and more economical to operate than conventional prior art refuse collection equipment.